SK-II unveils new film “The expiry date” to tackle age-related pressure

In a follow-up to last year’s viral “Marriage market takeover” campaign in China, skincare brand SK-II has teamed up with Forsman & Bodenfors again to shed light on the pressure women face as they age.The centerpiece of the new campaign is “The expiry date” that stretches beyond China to include Japan and South Korea in order to create worldwide discussion.In it, SK-II turns the proverbial expiration date many women feel like they have into a real one. The film follows the journey of three women as they pass through stages in life with growing internal and external pressure of timelines placed on them by society - manifested as an increasingly visible physical expiry date imprinted on their forearm.The aim is to showcase the unspoken timelines society places on women and spark a conversation around age-related pressure that women all over Asia, and the rest of the world, experience.https://youtu.be/v3JCA4lCMGwOnly 2 out of 10 women in Asia described themselves as comfortable with the idea of getting older according to a new study by SK-II.The reasons are many – pressure from family and friends, society’s scrutiny or feeling the burden to marry before an artificially created deadline is up.More than half of women in Asia surveyed felt uncomfortable and offended by other people’s view on their status especially with regards to topics about their age or marital status. Almost 72% of women in Korea and 62% of women in China have experienced this discomfort and scrutiny.Japan and Korea emerged as the two most extreme countries where women feel unhappy about getting older — almost 6 out of 10 Japanese women and more than half of South Korean women feeling this way.In China, finding a suitable partner for marriage is the biggest cause of concern among single women under 30 with more than 6 out of 10 single Chinese women under 30 sharing this concern.These findings underline a broader social issue connected to age-related pressure.Beyond the film, SK-II looks to facilitate a conversation around the stigma of age-related pressure by encouraging a regional social movement under the hashtag “#INeverExpire” — creating a welcoming arena for women to share their inner thoughts on the subject."SK-II hopes to encourage a global and Pan-Asian discussion to promote the message that everyone should be able to feel proud of what they’ve achieved and who they are, regardless of age and gender and should not be constrained by artificial timelines and expiry date labels placed on them by society," said Sandeep Seth, brand director of global SK-II.CreditsClient: SK-II Advertisers supervisor: Kylene Campos, brand director, global SK-II Title: I Never ExpireCreative agency: Forsman & Bodenfors Account supervisor: Susanna Fagring Account manager: Margarita Testa, Helena Lignell Art director: Sophia Lindholm, Karina Ullensvang Copywriter: Tove Eriksen Hillblom, Karolina Widell Designer: Christian Sundén Planner: My Troedsson PR strategist: Amat Levin Agency producer: Alexander Blidner Production company: WFC Postproduction: Online: Gangster. Telecine: Company 3/Tom Poole Media/PR agency: Be On Director: Max Vitali Producer: Petra Johansson, Frederic Rinnan Music: Håkan Eriksson D.O.P: Tim Maurice-Jones Editor: Johan Wik Sound: Mediamonks